User blog:Vance Clark/Spectral Visitor
March 05th, 2017. Vance didn’t bring any food with him, so having skipped eating today, he decided to take a walk around the outpost; starting with the marketplace. Entering the market, he took note of how large the place was and how many different kinds of stalls there were with everyday people trying to buy and sell things. There was literally enough firepower being sold here that, had Vance managed to pick up more than one grand, he’d have go on a shopping spree buying ammo. He looked around and decided the main things he needed right now was a decent food supply and medicine in case he gets hurt. He spent most of his money on food since he already had some medical supplies on him, but he made sure to get some bandages too. Now near broke, he exited the marketplace. Wondering where he could make some quick cash, other than just searching everywhere in the city for money, the answer practically flew right in his face. Right outside the marketplace was a building that looked like a mail office. There was a sign barely hanging on four nails above the door, as if it had been put there after the virus had spread to most of the city, which read “Notice Board” in big capital letters. Upon entering the building, Vance’s suspicions were affirmed. It was indeed previously a mail office. Vance stepped up to one of the clerks, who greeted him. “Hello, what can I do for you?” Vance replied, “Just a few questions. What is this place?” The clerk took a few minutes explaining the details. “We keep track of job postings here. Even in these times, people with money still have things they need done. Most people work as mercenaries around here; taking whatever job they can do that will pay well. On the board to your left are all the listings available right now. We put up new job postings every day, replacing the ones from the previous day, so come here whenever you’re looking for new work. Also, all jobs are only available once, so once you accept a job it will be removed from the board. This keeps others from accepting the same job.” The clerk sighed a bit, and continued, “It didn’t used to be like that, however. But we started getting people signing up for the same job, and only one person can be paid for completing a task. It caused so much trouble and bloodshed that it wasn’t worth it. People were killing each other more than the infected could. So we changed the way we work around here.” Vance nodded in understanding, and the clerk continued once more. “How this works is, you may pull up to three jobs you want to do at a time off the board. You bring the listings to me, and give me your name. We’ll sign those listings to your account, and upon completing the jobs you signed up for, your pay will be placed into one of the boxes on the walls here. You will be given a key to your corresponding box, so only you can get to the money in it. Payment will remain in the box until you come to pick it up. There is no time limit to how long you have to complete a task, or how long we’ll hang onto the money for you. There is also no guarantee to anyone who makes job listings that the task will be done, so you can come back at any time and resign one or more of the jobs you signed up for. That job may also become available again later on. You’re encouraged to check back whenever you want to look for new job postings, and you are under no obligation to sign up for any number of jobs per day. Also, we are under no obligation at any time to reimburse you if you lose cash, ammo, or other resources and time while out trying to complete a job. You will only be paid upon completing a job, and there is no form of life insurance policy here. By creating an account with us here you agree to our policies and rules, and under no circumstance may you try to get reimbursement for failed efforts on your part. Any aggression towards any of our staff will lead to an annulment of your account and you will not be able to get work here in the future.” Starting to feel like he’s just read a rules and guidelines contract, Vance simply nods at what the clerk has told him just to get things going quicker. As soon as the clerk says, “Do you understand all that I’ve told you?” Vance nods and says “Yes.” The clerk smiles and says “Good. Now, I’ll need your name if you want an account here. Please sign this form with your full name to show that you’ve agreed with the rules and are making an account.” Vance fills in his name, honestly just glad that the clerk is more or less done blabbing. The clerk types in some info into the computer in front of them and then hands Vance a key. “This key is to box number 855, over there. You can start signing up for jobs any time.” Vance immediately looks at the job listings and grabs the three that pay the most. He looks at his map to see where they should lead him, and quite honestly they’re not too far. He hands the job slips to the clerk, who signs him up for those jobs, and says “Good luck.” as Vance turns to leave. Vance signed up for two separate delivery quests, and one missing person quest. Carrying the boxes he had to deliver on his back, and having left his AK5 behind in his new home, he left the outpost and headed towards the locations on his map. It was still broad daylight out so not many zombies tried to stop him, and he was trying to be as quiet as possible. Any time a zombie approached him, he’d kill it with his knife, saving him both ammo and time that would be spent killing. He delivered the packages first, piece of cake, and the recipients told him they’d contact the Notice Board to let them know they received the packages, which made Vance smile a bit, knowing he’d get virtually free money upon returning. He set off to look for that missing person. Vance spent a good amount of time looking everywhere in the streets of Wolfslough; not too far out, and the zombies weren’t too bad; a few regular zombies here and there, some purple ones; not really a challenge for Vance. Though he did take note of where the zombies appeared to change from the normal weak zombies to the tougher purple ones. He started marking down on his map with a highlighter where the changes start happening. After he’d been everywhere and didn’t find the missing person, he was about to give up. He’d checked out every dead body he came across and didn’t find anyone that looked like the photo he was given. As he was passing through one of the streets he’d already checked out, in the corner of his he saw some movement. Normally he’d think ‘oh it’s just a zombie,’ but it wasn’t heading towards him. In fact it appeared to have run into the entrance of a building he’d already passed by. From his peripheral vision he could have been wrong, but he swore it looked like a child running as if it had somewhere to go; not running away from anything or anyone, but just running because kids tend to do that when they have someplace they want to be. It was a very odd sight, especially in times like these. Vance cautiously pursued the figure into the building. Handgun drawn, he wasn’t about to let himself walk into a trap. Inside the building he saw no sign of the figure. It appeared to be an apartment building of some kind. Pale green walls, maroon red carpeting, doors on either side of him, and a staircase going up one floor; it was definitely an apartment of some kind. There were also various furnishings around, such as a small cabinet with a long-wilted potted plant sitting on it, and a hanging picture here and there. Vance looked up the stairs; didn’t see anything. He checked out both doors, and didn’t see anything in them either. However after checking the second door, he heard a strange sound behind him and to the left. His hair stood on end as he felt a slight chill upon hearing what sounded like a child’s giggle. It sounded loud enough to echo in his ears, but didn’t seem like it was really loud at all. He turned around and saw no one there, but had the strangest feeling like someone had walked up those stairs while he wasn’t looking. Creepy as it was, Vance pursued. He walked up the stairs carefully and slowly, trying to be more aware of his surroundings this time so he wouldn’t miss anything. Up on the second floor, he saw ahead of him a window with light coming in. The stairs going up were in his way from seeing the full wall on that side, but he saw a door on the right, and he guessed that it was similar to the previous floor; doors on both side each leading to a single room. Vance didn’t move yet. His curiosity wanted him to search those rooms, as he knew there must have been someone in here, but he needed to keep aware of his surroundings. He stood there, USP still drawn and held low, and listened. He heard what sounded like little feet softly stepping up the stairs. His curiosity getting the better of him, he quickly rushed to the base of those stairs to look up at... nothing. There was no one going up the stairs. A light shiver ran down his spine, and he gritted his teeth. Something was not right here, and for a moment he actually felt a little afraid, more than he has been around any of the zombies he’d come across so far. Still, he pressed on. He skipped checking those two rooms and went up to the third floor. This time, nothing. No sounds, no footsteps, no people. He looked in the two rooms on this floor, and nothing but furniture in either of them. One room however was different than the others. It had a large king sized bed with drapery hanging down from above it. A large dresser and other arrangements made this room look like an older woman with good tastes might have stayed in this room. Vance pressed onward again, going upstairs to the fourth and last floor. His feet trembled a little going up. There HAD to have been something in here making those noises, but part of him didn’t want to find out. On this floor, another window and two doors, just like before. However these doors, unlike the other floors, were closed. An eerie light shone in through the window illuminating this room differently than the last. It was almost as if coming up here had somehow changed the passage of time. Looking through the window was even creepier. He saw a round area bellow surrounded by building walls, apparently part of this building since there were no gaps in the walls. In the center of this ‘area’ was a great old tree that had no leaves on it. It was rather large and looked like it might have been great for kids to climb on. But Vance doesn’t think about such trivial things. The tree, albeit growing in a grassy area, was closely surrounded by cement; an apparent sitting area as it was elevated above the surrounding gravel-covered ground. Further out from the tree, in the gravel, were some old and forgotten-looking play-things; a swing with four seats, a teeter-tater – which to be honest Vance wasn’t really sure what that was called, or how to spell it, and circular metal platforms that spin around which kids like to play in. The sight of all this was eerie and very confusing; this isn’t what Vance knew should be out there. Turning around to try and put that weird sight behind him, he checked the room now on his left from his current facing. Opening it, it was another bedroom. It had large glass windows that looked out onto the same scene Vance saw in the other room, and one of those windows was completely shattered. A slight breeze was blowing into the room making the curtains flutter inward. Avoiding the glass on the floor, Vance looked around a bit. It appeared to be a kid’s room; probably a boy from the way it was set up. It looked to be long-unused, but other than the bed not being properly made, it was fairly tidy. On the dresser in front of a round mirror Vance found a photo of a boy, probably around the age of 14, and a girl who looked to be 10. The boy and the girl were smiling and had an arm around each other’s back. Noticing a similarity, Vance looked closely at the picture and the one he was given. That girl was the one in his missing person photo. Other than the clothes in the dresser, that’s all that was in this room. Vance returned to the hall and checked the other room. As he was opening the door, the first thing he noticed in the room was the windows on the right, similar to the room across the hall, but the room already began to look like a mirror image of the other room, at least until he finished opening the door. In the room was a dresser similar to the other room, a bed which clearly looked like a girl’s bed due to the choice of design, and an old doll house was sitting near the dresser. It was left open so you could see the inside; as if a child had played with it and never put it away. Soon after stepping into the room, Vance saw something peculiar; the shape of a little girl sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from him. She was wearing a little girl’s dress and appeared to be holding a teddy bear in her arms. She had curled hair that went part way down her back. She was the picture of what every mother wishes their daughters to look like; in fact, she was exactly the same as the girl in the photo in the other room. The only difference was, she wasn’t all there. Vance could see right through her. She was transparent, like a spectre of what she once was. Cautiously, and perhaps foolishly, Vance stepped closer. She turned to him and spoke in a young girl’s voice, as expected, but the voice sort of echoed in his ears. Like the sound before, it wasn’t loud, but it was clear, as if he was hearing it with his very soul. She talked to him as if she knew him, or at least, as if he wasn’t a stranger to her. “This is where me and my brother used to live. We lived here with our aunt. She took us in and took care of us after my mommy died.” She spoke just like a kid; it was clear but wasn’t very grammatically correct. She also repeated some things that weren’t needed. “We used to play together in the garden outside. But one day he found a strange book with evil writing in it. I didn’t like that book, it took my brother away from me. One day he was sitting at the top of the tree. He loved to climb it, but I was never very good at it. I wanted to get his attention but he got harsh and told me to go play on my own. I tried to climb up the tree to reach him, but I slipped. My brother climbed down to get me. He said I was really hurt, that I’d bumped my head, but he said he would fix it. He carried me down into some old scary tunnel beneath the garden. He set me down on the ground and started reading from his book. He was saying things I couldn’t understand but I knew it wasn’t right. But before I knew it, it was too late. He’d opened up a door to some place very bad, and something started to come out. It touched him and knocked him down. He got up and sealed the door, but it changed him, and left me like this.” While she was telling Vance all this, he felt like he could see the whole thing happen in his mind. It was like he’d experienced a flashback that was put there by something outside himself. She paused a moment and then continued, “My brother grew older but he became even more twisted as time went by. I didn’t feel like my brother was still alive. What he was after the accident was not the brother I grew up with. He started a company with very bad intentions. He told himself that it was all to try and bring me back, but I know that wasn’t what he was doing. He created something evil. It wasn’t alive but it infected others like he’d been infected, only different. It turned people into monsters. But the real monster was let out the day he opened the door again. He tried to contain it, but it escaped.” This was all so much for Vance to take in, and left so many questions. “You can leave the way you came in. If you see my aunt, tell her I said thank you for caring for us.” Moments later the light in the room suddenly changed, as did the scenery through the windows. In fact the whole room was now different, yet still had some resemblances to what Vance had seen before. He took his leave from the building and headed back to the outpost to collect his money. Vance reported the missing person as dead, and got paid 9 grand for the completion of the three jobs he signed up for. He headed back to his new home to sit and think about what he’d seen. Category:Blog posts